Executive Summary
History
Nintendo has been in business since the late 1800s, and fully became Nintendo in the 1950s. The company started with playing cards, and designed and created toys. During the video game boom in the 80s, before 1983’s crash, Nintendo was known for arcade machines, and their Game & Watch LCD handheld games. In 1984, Nintendo released their first home console in Japan. After successfully reviving interest in the video game market, they’ve made video games since.
Currently, their newest console, the Nintendo Switch, is a hybrid between a handheld game console and a home console that requires a television.
Mission Statement
“Nintendo’s mission is to put smiles on the faces of everyone we touch. We do so by creating new surprises for people across the world to enjoy together. We’ve forged our own path since 1889, when we began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto, Japan. Today, we’re fortunate to be able to share our characters, ideas and worlds through the medium of video games and the entertainment industry.”
Target Market
Nintendo’s target market is full of consumers from the age of fifteen to thirty that can play video games, not necessarily hardcore gamers that crave an in-depth story with deep gameplay. This demographic has few distinctions: they could be young people who just now have a disposable income for fun things, like video games; they could be young parents that want to share Nintendo products with their children. A new target market could be older people trying to get in shape as well, because the Nintendo Switch has a number of games to help with that, including Ringfit Adventure and Fitness Boxing.
There doesn’t seem to be a distinct income target for Nintendo customers, but Nintendo games are notoriously expensive. For example, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a game that launched in 2017 with the Switch sold for that price, while the PlayStation 4 exclusive, The Last of Us Part II, which released this year went on sale for $30.
Products and Brands
Nintendo has focused on two brands and products this year: their Switch console and Super Mario. The Switch is Nintendo’s only pillar of gaming now (not including their mobile phone games like Fire Emblem: Heroes). After discontinuing the 3DS in 2020, Nintendo has been putting all their faith and trust into the Switch, which shows no signs of slowing down in sales. This year is the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System, so there has been a year-long celebration, even including a pre-recorded live stream all about Mario with the Super Mario Bros 35th Anniversary Nintendo Direct on September 3rd, 2020.
Positioning
Currently, the Nintendo Switch is being positioned as a console that anyone can find fun with. Whether the fun is getting lost in an adventure, or playing with others, Nintendo can help find something for an audience of nearly all ages.
The two most important characteristics being considered are accessibility and overall fun. This is seen because of the ads they run: playing with others and genuinely enjoying yourself in the company of others. In Nintendo’s advertisements, playing Mario Kart with friends should give you as much joy as playing Super Mario Odyssey by yourself.
Brief History of Nintendo
Nintendo started as a playing card and toy company in 1889 under Fusajiro Yamauchi. The first cards produced were the “Hanafuda” (flower cards) Japanese playing cards. After producing toys and playing cards for years with a variety of names, the company was officially named “Nintendo” in 1951. In 1980, Nintendo released their Game & Watch games, easy to understand, score-based handheld LCD games. In 1981, Donkey Kong hit arcades, giving birth to “Jumpman,” before he was named Mario. After the release of Donkey Kong, it was widely loved by arcade patrons; it was supposedly the most profitable game in the business. In 1984, Nintendo released the “Family Computer” (dubbed the “Famicom” by fans) and it was a runaway success. Instead of the top-loading design from Japan, the United States received the same system, but in more of a blocky tank-like design, and it was named the “Nintendo Entertainment System” (dubbed the “NES” by fans) with the same lineup of blockbuster games a year later on October 18th, 1985. A year later in 1986, Europe joined the party and got the NES in their market.
In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy at $90; their handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges, beating Sega to the punch in 1990 with their Game Gear. The Game Boy had one color: green, and varying shades of it. That didn’t stop the system from being a hit: the thought of being able to play video games on the road or in while your parents have the television was intoxicating for kids and adults alike. The system was sometimes packed in with Tetris, giving the buyer an endless, addicting puzzle game with their purchase of a game console. Sega’s Game Gear had a full-color display, but used more batteries than the Game Boy and was more expensive at $150.
Throughout the past 35 years, Nintendo has released numerous consoles as shown below in the data table.
Nintendo’s Console Timeline
Release Year Console Name
| 1985 | Nintendo Entertainment System |
| 1989 | Game Boy |
| 1990 | Super Nintendo Entertainment System |
| 1996 | Nintendo 64 |
| 1998 | Game Boy Color |
| 2001 | Game Boy Advance |
| 2001 | GameCube |
| 2004 | DS |
| 2006 | Wii |
| 2011 | 3DS |
| 2012 | WiiU |
| 2017 | Switch |
Currently in 2020, the Switch is ruling sales charts, but is still behind the Sony PlayStation 4 in total sales. To be fair, the PlayStation 4 released in 2013 and has accumulated over 112 million units sold, but the Switch was released in 2017 and has over 68.3 million units sold. Statistically, it’s possible for the Switch to overtake Sony’s Playstation 4, especially now that PlayStation 4 production will slow down due to Sony releasing the PlayStation 5 this Winter.
Nintendo’s Mission Statement
According to Nintendo of America’s official website, the company’s mission statement is as follows:
“Nintendo’s mission is to put smiles on the faces of everyone we touch. We do so by creating new surprises for people across the world to enjoy together. We’ve forged our own path since 1889, when we began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto, Japan. Today, we’re fortunate to be able to share our characters, ideas and worlds through the medium of video games and the entertainment industry.”
Based on this mission statement, we know that the brand Nintendo has created is one that reaches everyone; the fun of video games knows no bounds to them. Boys and girls of all ages and any backgrounds can find joy in the entertainment they provide.
Nintendo’s Target Market
Simply put, Nintendo’s target market could be perceived as anyone and everyone. However, based on research, it’s stated that Nintendo’s target market is the demographic that Sony and Microsoft ignore: people who aren’t hardcore gamers. The target audience can be specified as families (preferably with younger kids), women, older folks, and casual gamers. Nintendo once saw this as a curse and tried breaking into more mature markets. This was especially prevalent in the era of the Nintendo GameCube.
Numerous M-rated titles (“Mature” for ages 17 and up) were made exclusively for the console, some even published by Nintendo themselves. These “Mature” titles included two developed by Silicon Knights: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, a gruesome, violent horror game released on the GameCube in 2002; Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, a full remake of 1998’s Metal Gear Solid from the Sony PlayStation released in 2004. The biggest hit wasn’t published by Nintendo, however; that was Resident Evil 4. Published and developed by Capcom, its a highly-regarded sequel to a critically-acclaimed horror series released near the end of the GameCube’s life in 2005 (and it’s rumored that after its success, Capcom broke their exclusivity deal with Nintendo: releasing it on every system they could). In the “25 Best-selling Gamecube Game List,” Resident Evil 4’s success brought it to number 13 with 1.6 million copies sold, but it wasn’t only released on the GameCube, and became a phenomenon. Meanwhile, the top three games all starred Mario and multiplayer fun: Super Smash Bros. Melee (7.41 million), Mario Kart: Double Dash (6.96 million), and Super Mario Sunshine (6.28 million), and I’ll include some more in the table below (there will be a break in the table and we’ll compare it to the other consoles that generation, the PlayStation 2 and Xbox). The numbers will be from a few console generations ago, but this is definitive data we now have.
Best-Selling Nintendo GameCube Games
Rank Title Units sold (in millions) Details
| 1 | Super Smash Bros Melee (2001) | 7.41 | T-rated fighting, multiplayer |
| 2 | Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003) | 6.96 | E-rated racing, multiplayer |
| 3 | Super Mario Sunshine (2002) | 6.28 | E-rated platformer, single player |
| 4 | The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (2003) | 3.07 | E-rated action, single player |
| 5 | Luigi’s Mansion (2001) | 3.03 | E-rated horror, single player |
| 13 | Resident Evil 4 (2005) | 1.60 | M-rated survival-horror, single player (Nintendo exclusive Mature title- first one to appear in the best-seller list) |
Best-Selling Xbox Games
Rank Title Units (millions) Details
| 1 | Halo 2 (2004) | 8.49 | M-rated Sci-Fi Shooter, multiplayer |
| 2 | Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) | 6.43 | M-rated Sci-Fi Shooter, multiplayer |
| 3 | Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (2002) | 3.02 | T-rated Stealth Action, single player |
| 4 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002) | 2.86 | T-rated Fantasy RPG, single player |
| 5 | Fable (2005) | 2.66 | M-rated Fantasy RPG, single player |
Best-Selling PlayStation 2 Games
Rank Title Units (millions) Details
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) | 20.81 | Open world crime, single player |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) | 16.15 | Open world crime, single player |
| 3 | Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001) | 14.98 | Racing, multiplayer |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto III (2001) | 13.10 | Open world crime, single player |
| 5 | Gran Turismo 4 (2004) | 11.66 | Racing, multiplayer |
After this data, it’s apparent Nintendo is still seen as a just a family-friendly company. Games meant for more mature audiences do get published and created by Nintendo, but those are highlighted more as treats for older consumers now. Also keep in mind that the GameCube wasn’t Nintendo’s most popular console, but it was in direct competition with the PlayStation 2, the best-selling console in history with 155 million units sold. We could potentially also look at their next console’s top five games and see if the trends changed on the Nintendo Wii.
Best-Selling Wii Games
Rank Title Units (millions) Details
| 1 | Wii Sports | 82.87 | Pack-in title to show Wii capabilities, multiplayer sports game |
| 2 | Mario Kart Wii | 37.20 | Racing, multiplayer |
| 3 | Wii Sports Resort | 33.10 | More Wii Sports-types of events, multiplayer |
| 4 | New Super Mario Bros. Wii | 30.26 | 2D platforming, multiplayer |
| 5 | Wii Play | 28.02 | More Wii Sports-type of games, multiplayer |
Highly-accessible games for anyone to have fun with seems to be what Nintendo strives for: simple platformers and games of all genres starring Mario; gigantic adventures in The Legend of Zelda; exploring alien worlds in Metroid: there’s no shortage of imagination on Nintendo consoles, and they know how to use that and appeal to people who want to use it, whether it’s a businessman looking for some down time in a simple game, or a young girl looking to get lost in a world of adventure and mystery.
A target market, however can be found in children from six to twelve years old, but through their parents, making young parents the target. The games Nintendo creates are right up their alley in most cases: kids that age want to create, explore, and learn new things while being entertained, and Nintendo helps them with that. Nintendo even knows this and tailored a Super Mario Maker 2 ad campaign around this, but we’ll discuss that in the coming pages. There’s also a heavy pull for parents to get their kids a Nintendo console if they grew up with one themselves. Microsoft recently released an ad with that in mind, but Nintendo has a richer history, so I have no doubt in my mind they can make a better ad campaign in that style.
The new target market would contain parents from forty to twenty-five years old. This demographic was playing video games when Nintendo was starting to make an impact on the video game industry: they grew up playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES, or even Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii and want to share their experiences with their children, or just want to keep up with Mario’s adventures as they grow older.
Nintendo Marketing 2019
In 2019, Nintendo’s marketing message and theme has revolved around something they’ve always held near and dear: fun, but in 2019, it hadn’t evolved much. In 2017, Nintendo released the Switch, their hybrid game console that can be played on a television or portably on the system’s tablet. Ever since their Switch console released, news outlets have been praising Nintendo on their marketing endeavors, with Forbes even headlining their articles with “The Switch Has Had Nintendo’s Best Marketing Campaign In Years.” In 2019, Nintendo used more of their games to push their console, of course.
Throughout the year of 2019, Nintendo released plenty of games they personally published. When these games were released, the advertisement message didn’t change, but they made sure you knew those games were only available on the Switch, while also usually showing multiple people playing together. They always wanted to show families playing the console together with smiles on their faces; showing the audience there were numerous memories to be made and laughs to be shared with this specific console. The theme they obviously went for was for a family-friendly environment: boys and girls of all ages, their parents, and even grandparents can get in on the fun with Nintendo products. Even during the Wii-era in 2007, there was the “Wii would like to play” campaign, showing two men going house-to-house playing the Wii with families: mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters all playing the then-new console.
Nintendo’s target market is identified as consumers between the ages of fifteen and thirty who want to play video games. Looking further into it, this target market makes sense for Nintendo: teenagers are starting to get a taste of disposable income from their first jobs, and people up to thirty are starting their careers and families. The higher end of the age range may want to start sharing Nintendo products with their small children, or maybe still want to play video games in their downtime. The creative on how Nintendo reaches their audience relies on their virtual conferences, known as “Nintendo Directs”, along with reliable television and YouTube commercials with some social media ads thrown into the mix.
In 2019, there were six total Nintendo Direct events showcasing upcoming games. Roughly every three months, the company would release a blanket “Nintendo Direct” about any upcoming games, and shortly before or after the conference, release a Direct about a specific game coming soon. For example, in June of 2019, Nintendo had their E3 Direct, and just a week before a full Direct all about their new Pokemon games: Sword and Shield. This is one of their more important ways to advertise to many internet users, and they realized this in 2020, as we’ll discuss more in the 2020 section. Nintendo insiders, and even the current president, Shuntaro Furukawa, believe that Directs are the best way to show consumers their products in an effective, transparent way. In the beginning of 2020, while fans waited for the first Nintendo Direct of the year, fans were clamoring for information and hoping for any kind of news (the attached footnote is just one example,) and this shows that this is one of the most important forms of marketing that Nintendo has.
In 2019, the Directs were as follows: the first Nintendo Direct of the year was streamed on February 13th, containing over half an hour of new announcements, as well as new details and updates to the production of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. The Pokemon Direct followed on February 27th, and this stream was very short, just detailing some information about then-upcoming Pokemon games. May 15th had the next stream, and it was all about Super Mario Maker 2, and then another Pokemon Direct on June 5th, followed closely by Nintendo’s E3 Direct. Finally, the final Direct of the year was on September 4th, and this steam highlighted Nintendo’s Christmas lineup (well, to an extent) with Pokemon Sword & Shield as well as Luigi’s Mansion 3. Six streams over the year, with varying degrees of content in each; this is changed up in 2020. I’ll include the data in the table below for a more visual representation.
Nintendo Direct Schedule (2019)
Date Type of Direct Details on Direct
| Feb.13 | Nintendo Direct | Details mainly on Fire Emblem, but also other projects |
| Feb.27 | Pokemon Direct | Presentation on the new Pokemon game only |
| May 15 | Super Mario Maker 2 Direct | Presentation on the new Super Mario Maker game only |
| Jun.5 | Pokemon Direct | A shorter presentation entirely on Pokemon again |
| Jun.11 | Nintendo Direct | Nintendo’s E3 Direct, showing off their upcoming projects in a blanket E3-tailored Direct |
| Sept.9 | Nintendo Direct | 40+ minute presentation on multiple games, mainly Pokemon and Luigi’s Mansion 3 |
In 2019, Nintendo spent roughly 76 billion yen on marketing (equivalent to 726 million dollars in USD). There was also a special report back in August of 2019 about Nintendo’s ads that July. In July of 2019, it was reported that Nintendo spent 3.2 million dollars on commercials for Super Mario Maker 2 during popular kids shows like Spongebob Squarepants. This specific commercial was called “The Level of Your Dreams,” and it showed how easy and accessible Super Mario Maker 2 is. There was upbeat music from the game, a welcoming voiceover talking about the game, along with CGI scenes of Mario and Luigi being construction workers because the game is about constructing levels to play. This shows that while Nintendo played to their strengths with their Directs, they don’t neglect the kids: the audience of gamers that parents (the target market) will buy for. Two commercials aired in late 2019 and solidified Nintendo in the hearts of families, and they both ran in 2020 because of their success. One of the spots (featuring a father and daughter playing their Switch together) last aired almost a whole year later on September 16th, 2020. There was also an ad about playing games together with any group of friends or family, and it made the news about Nintendo’s inclusion of a child with Down Syndrome. It was said that Nintendo’s stance on inclusion didn’t just apply to ethnicities, but also physical, developmental, and mental disabilities.
In total, it’s estimated that Nintendo spent $46 million dollars on television advertising in 2019 in the United States alone, which leaves $680 million dollars for everything else. In my research, I couldn’t find the exact numbers on where the other $680 million went, but there’s no doubt it went to all their advertisements online, or even possibly into their Directs.
However, there’s also the simple matter of exclusives on the console over others. Nintendo has the fantastic reputation of having great exclusives, and some of those exclusives are often new intellectual properties, or revivals of ones fans miss. They also do keep their strong properties in the pipeline as well. Below is the table of Nintendo exclusive releases in 2019, and this was before Nintendo killed 3DS support to solely focus on their Switch.
Nintendo’s Physical Exclusive Release Schedule 2019
Release Date Software Title
| Jan 11 | New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch) |
| Jan 11 | Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser’s Minions (3DS) |
| Mar 8 | Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn (3DS) |
| Mar 29 | Yoshi’s Crafted World (Switch) |
| Jun 28 | Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) |
| Jul 26 | Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) |
| Sep 13 | Daemon X Machina (Switch) |
| Sep 20 | The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch) |
| Oct 18 | Ringfit Adventure (Switch) |
| Oct 31 | Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Switch) |
| Nov 15 | Pokemon Sword / Pokemon Shield (Switch) |
All of these exclusives show that Nintendo likes to release their games close to one-another, and have enough content coming out that there was almost a new game from Nintendo to play every month. Nintendo also got help from Platinum Games, the company behind games like Bayonetta to make Astral Chain, and that’s an exclusive but developed outside of Nintendo. They also released a new revision of the Switch in 2019, the “Switch Lite,” where the ability to “switch” the console from portable to a stationary TV console is gone, but that revision is still being sold in 2020, so it must be doing well.
Competitor Marketing 2019
As we’ve discussed earlier, Nintendo has two major competitors: Sony and Microsoft. Both consoles get games that can’t run on Nintendo’s current console, which puts them a step above Nintendo in the sheer amount of games they can offer. For example, in the very beginning of 2019, Capcom released the highly-anticipated remake of Resident Evil 2. The game was met with glowing reviews and had an enormous advertising campaign: TV spots, online banners, social media, even a live-action commercial for people who may remember George A. Romero’s commercial that aired in Japan: it was everywhere. As of December 2019, the game had sold approximately five million copies, and those are all sales going to Capcom, Sony, and Microsoft.
The competition may have more of a community, but Nintendo is releasing more exclusives than either of them, which helps drive consumers to the Switch and Nintendo’s other offerings. Listed below are the exclusives on both competitors’ consoles. From my research, the only confirmed Xbox One exclusive I could find was Gears 5, released on September 21st, 2019.
Below are Sony’s offerings in 2019. Ori and the Will of Wisps released on Nintendo Switch, so that’s not an exclusive.
Sony PlayStation 4 Exclusives in 2019
Release Date Software Title
| Mar 26 | MLB The Show 19 |
| Apr 26 | Days Gone |
| May 21 | Everybody’s Golf VR |
| May 28 | Blood and Truth |
| Oct 8 | Concrete Jungle |
| Oct 25 | MediEvil |
| Nov 8 | Death Stranding |
Nintendo Marketing 2020
Nintendo’s advertising for 2020 is very different than we’ve seen before, but they kept their message of playing anyway, anywhere. In the middle of the year, Nintendo announced that they will start advertising outside of their target as well to attract new customers. This is obviously something that was decided because of the pandemic. Because of COVID-19, Nintendo experienced a shortage of Switch consoles, but not because they didn’t make them, but because they flew off the shelves when people were in lockdown. In March, they released Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a game that soared past sale expectations. It’s also an entire game about being a farmer, trader, and living a life out in the wild while also accommodating for villagers that want to live on your island. This title is now up for the award of “Game of the Year” at the official Video Game Awards.
This year, Nintendo also officially killed their support for the 3DS, their last foray into the completely handheld market. With the Switch selling as well as it is, and the Switch being available in a “lite” version where it plays strictly portably, there was no reason to keep the 3DS line going in the company’s eyes. This opened more opportunities for Nintendo to push the Switch’s hardware and games. According to Nintendo’s annual report, over 10 million units of Switch hardware were sold in the second quarter of 2020, within three months of Animal Crossing’s release.
In 2020, there were many more Nintendo Directs, but they were labelled as “Nintendo Direct Minis,” where the streams may not have been very long, but there were more of them throughout the year. The schedule of these Directs are as follows: the first Direct of the year was the Pokemon Direct on January 9th, followed by Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct on February 20th. The first “Nintendo Direct” of the year was a “mini” on March 26th, less than a week after Animal Crossing’s launch on March 20th. The next Nintendo Direct was on July 20th, and was the first “partner showcase” from Nintendo, showing off third-party support on the Switch; a month later on August 26th, there was another “partner showcase.” On September 3rd, there was the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct; this whole stream was about celebrating the legacy of Super Mario with announcements only pertaining to the Mario brand, including more games, collectible shoes (I wouldn’t wear them out), and Lego sets. Two of the last three directs were also “partner showcase” events on September 17th and October 28th. The last game-specific event was the Monster Hunter Direct on September 17th right after the Partner Showcase event. It was a whole time slot dedicated to Capcom and their upcoming Monster Hunter game for the Switch. This data can also be better visualized in the table I’ve provided below.
Nintendo Direct Schedule (2020)
Date Type of Direct Details on Direct
| Jan 9 | Pokemon Direct | 20 minute of Pokemon |
| Feb 20 | Animal Crossing Direct | 25 minutes of Animal Crossing information |
| Mar 26 | Nintendo Direct Mini | A shorter format of the normal Direct |
| July 20 | Mini “Partner Showcase” | A shorter format, but emphasizing 3rd party support |
| Aug 26 | Mini “Partner Showcase” | A shorter format, but emphasizing 3rd party support |
| Sep 3 | Super Mario Bros. 35th Direct | A full Nintendo Direct all about Mario |
| Sep 17 | Mini “Partner Showcase” | A shorter format, but emphasizing 3rd party support |
| Sep 17 | Monster Hunter Direct | A shorter format, just for the new Monster Hunter |
| Oct 28 | Mini “Partner Showcase” | A shorter format, but emphasizing 3rd party support |
Judging from this data, Nintendo knows that their Directs get a lot of views, and figured dropping pieces of content throughout the year was more effective than one big lump-sum, especially during the pandemic. During the pandemic, it’s understandable for games to miss deadlines, and it’s presumable that Nintendo doesn’t want to upset fans by announcing a game too early, only for it to be pushed back months (if not years) due to the pandemic. I also believe that’s why we haven’t seen many new live-action ads from Nintendo this year, and if we have, a lot of it is reused from 2019 but with new gameplay in the outros to show off new games, like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which is sitting at the top of Nintendo’s sales list.
Nintendo released a commercial in the UK where a group of friends is separated because one moves away. This is an ad that people can resonate with because they’ve had friends move, or they’ve moved. However, this has a double meaning. Friends being distant is how this whole year has gone: by including friends staying together over Animal Crossing, Nintendo has planted the idea in consumers’ heads that if they play the Switch, they can stay in touch with friends during the pandemic as well. It’s honestly brilliant: it doesn’t tie the ad down to a time frame like other COVID ads and supplies a want people have: being social.
Nintendo exclusives in 2020 are also firing on all cylinders. Below is the list of exclusives released on Nintendo’s home console.
Nintendo Switch Exclusives Released in 2020
Release Date Software Title
| Jan 17 | Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore |
| Mar 6 | Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Mission DX |
| Mar 20 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons |
| May 29 | Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition |
| Jun 5 | Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics |
| Jun 15 | Jump Rope Challenge |
| Jul 17 | Paper Mario and the Origami King |
| Sep 18 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars |
| Sep 23 | Kirby Fighters 2 |
| Oct 1 | Super Mario Bros. 35 |
| Oct 16 | Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit |
| Oct 30 | Pikmin 3 Deluxe |
| Nov 20 | Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity |
| Dec 4 | Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm and Exercise |
| Dec 4 | Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & Blade of Light |
When Nintendo had to announce the delay Metroid Prime 4, fans were understandably disappointed, but there was no shortage of Nintendo content this year. There is a way that they could expand their market, however. Since their market includes people from fifteen to thirty, those people do care about their body image too. Nintendo has put out a number of exercise games on the Switch and they could target people stuck at home who would like to get back on an exercise regiment through their games like Fitness Boxing and Ringfit Adventure. Speaking from experience, Ringfit Adventure will work up a sweat relatively quickly and teach a consumer about properly stretching before working out, so even when the consumer is out and about, they’ll remember what the game has taught them and talk about it with their friends; leading to more consumers. Especially during COVID, Americans and all citizens are trying to find ways to stay active and healthy: Nintendo can supply that, meaning millions of possible consumers.
I think the best way to grab those consumers is through informative morning ads during local news. Seems dumb, but the people they want to attract do watch the news every morning for their commute, and also for new COVID numbers in the vicinity they live in.
Competitor Marketing 2020
In 2020, both Sony and Microsoft put their efforts into their new console launches. This also helps consumers understand why these companies may have had a lackluster 2019 in terms of content. Both consoles are marketed heavily now that they’re flying off the shelves. This is reportedly Sony’s biggest launch, but the marketing seemed lacking to my personal experience. I was never bombarded with advertisements like I was in 2013 with the PlayStation 4. It’s possible that the pandemic has also made these companies rather conscious of how much money people have and aren’t pushing them as hard as they used to. However, now that the consoles are being immensely scalped, this puts the systems on news stations for reasons other than their popularity, and that puts the system in front of consumers every time they read an article or turn on the nightly news. This is also making Sony and Microsoft’s jobs very easy by letting the news report.
Sony was going to stay out of E3 this year anyway, so the pandemic didn’t necessarily hurt their window of announcements, so that’s incredibly convenient. While they were missing out, they would’ve released one of their biggest titles, The Last of Us Part II a few weeks later.
Sony PlayStation Exclusives in 2020
Release Date Software Title
| Feb 14 | Dreams |
| Mar 13 | Nioh 2 |
| Mar 17 | MLB The Show 20 |
| Apr 24 | Predator: Hunting Grounds |
| Jun 19 | The Last of Us Part II |
| Jul 3 | Iron Man VR |
| Nov 12 | Sackboy: A Big Adventure (both on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5) |
| Nov 12 | Spider-Man: Miles Morales (both on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5) |
As for Microsoft’s Xbox, the only console exclusive released this year was Gears Tactics on November 10th. That is according to BestBuy.com’s listings of Xbox games.
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